On the Unsuspecting Tongue

~ Ceccoli Tarot ~

Today there was no question that this deck was the one I wanted to use. After I drew the cards I sat for awhile in the liminal candled light of dawn taking in the soft palette, the colors, the melancholy mystery, the sense of solitariness verging on isolation that these maiden feminine energies embody. I drew the Three of Wands and the Page of Cups and as the images and interpretations diverge from the RWS versions I let my intuition and interest wander through the story land of the cards.

Three of Wands ~ Ceccoli Tarot

This is one of my favorite images in the deck. The contrasts provide such texture...the stark, treeless branches combined with their directional, spark-like movement, the delicate flowers forming a graceful spiral around the solid tree trunk. The gossamer wings of the little faerie, the backdrop of cloud and beneath that the kingdom, her meditative pose and then there's the wonderful fox nosing about eating the flower offerings.

So much to take in here and so different from the traditional image of the fellow watching the ships in the harbor. And yet the LWB describes this as an assessing of losses and gains with the suggestion to realign with new information if necessary and an awareness of outside influences that may be thwarting the process. The key concepts are a pause in the endeavor, evaluating a situation. The faerie's hair is pulled back severely into a bun which suggests focus and a restraining of energies but I wonder if she sees the fox.

Clearly this vulpine creature is embodying the element of fire associated with the suit of Wands and yet done with subtlety, almost an afterthought, which pulls me right in. As such I'm drawn to his or her delicate and bold eating of the flowers, a flame consuming beauty's flame, and herein lies the symbiosis between the two figures, there is an alchemy occurring here, conscious or not, intention is passing between them. Mary Oliver names so perfectly this magick called fox, medicine for the wild soul.

Heart ~ The Alchemist Oracle

Tasting the Wild Grapes

The red beast
who lives in the side of these hills
won’t come out for anything you have:
money or music. Still, there are moments
heavy with light and good luck. Walk
quietly under these tangled vines
and pay attention, and one morning
something will explode underfoot
like a branch of fire; one afternoon
something will flow down the hill
in plain view, a muscled sleeve the color
of all October! And forgetting
everything you will leap to name it
as though for the first time, your lit blood
rushing not to a word but a sound
small-boned, thin-faced, in a hurry,
lively as the dark thorns of the wild grapes
on the unsuspecting tongue!
The fox! The fox!



Fox comes bearing gifts of invisibility, observation and adaptability. That my attention was drawn to this creature on the card suggests to me that some pathworking might in order with this totem animal. In the meantime I've gleaned some insight into the dynamic between this little Faerie-girl and her familiar. Theirs is one of oblique communication, creativity needing a flame so as to be received and transformed into something active, alive, wild. Waiting and watching unobtrusively for the right moment is key.

Page of Cups ~ Ceccoli Tarot

And that she is watching this lovely Page of Cups touches a chord. This apprentice of the emotions stands so surely and so innocently in the oceans of feeling that her own dress has become part of the element. Only her ankles and feet are immersed as she titrates what she can take in. The jumping koi suggest prosperity and energy, they are strong swimmers and as totem animals their blessings are powerful.

All these await this little Page as she learns how to dance with the element of water, the body of her emotions. The grey skies in the background feel like a reminder that all is not rosy, that weathering storms is part of the training.


I love that the little figure in the Three of Wands is looking towards this Page, almost as if for guidance. The Faerie-Girl perhaps has her sights set on the possibility of emotional maturity as long as she can wait and watch actively, creatively. This feels like an invitation to sit with the moments that feel tricky, that feel stolen, that feel like a blaze of confusion while at the same time being aware that small, incremental steps into the ocean of feelings are powerful. But mainly I'm soaking in the feeling of calm and ethereal beauty this lovely pair of cards offers me. During a season of shadows and encroaching darkness today feels like a day to revel in the muted pastels of girlhood--that magical realm where goldfish leap out of the sea, where roses make spirals around tree trunks, and foxes quietly flare and feast on beauty.

Gazing on the Multiplicity of the One

Two of Wands ~ Niccoletta Ceccoli Tarot

A very early wake up, lots of time before my daily tasks began and yet I couldn't settle on a deck, Oracle or Tarot or both, dark or neutral, which one? Round and round I went. Finally I pulled a card from the Halloween Oracle, got a repeat of last week's fabulous Underworld card and as that felt like an ongoing theme decided I wanted something to address the more temporal issues of the day. I spied my Ceccoli deck sitting on the shelf and that felt just right. Dark, mysterious but with a soft and soothing color palette. And how fitting that I drew a Two, and the Wands no less, as my creative self wandered restlessly from deck to deck looking for inspiration's outlet.

Two of Wands ~ Ceccoli Tarot

I set the card out on my cotd altar and traveled with it through the morning watching the light change its atmosphere from sober and mysterious to magical and almost playful. The sense of being entangled with something just beyond reach, because it is a projection, speaks loudly here. What projections am I entwined with today? Where does my vision suffer from the myopic? Where do I need to enlarge my view? The circular border of the mirror suggests this as a kind of endless cycle both framing and circumscribing the expansive truth inherent in the reality of each arising moment. The key is to know when my view limits and when it acts contextually.

The card is interpreted as...'Illusion or enchantment may be keeping you from fulfilling your potential. Key concepts : Loss of will, coercion, pressure from others.' Today this speaks to me on a more internal level and hearkens back to a draw a few days ago highlighting similar themes on a more macro scale. Here, thankfully, they are titrated for me. The misty, grey backdrop, the element of enmeshment, the delicate, waif-like beauty of the girls all prompt different reactions from me. What enchantments am I weaving upon myself? Where do I need to 'flesh out' and earth my view? What part does individuation play in my day? What part of the forest do I need to journey to to come face to face with the ethereal spell-weaver?

No concrete answers revealed themselves and yet that felt just about right. The questions have been posed, seeded and will gradually find their way towards the light, little shoots of awareness stretching their small green bodies into the oxygenated atmosphere of consciousness. The imagery in this card is compelling, both drawing me in and excluding me at the same time. I've been thinking about it throughout my day, not so much what it might 'mean' but more tracking the way it has been intersecting with me emotionally. Noticing the times I've been lost in my own thoughts and constructs, the times I'm in dialogue with some idealized self just beyond reach, the times I'm under the spell of 'other', the times that yes-no energy announces itself. It's been an interesting journey.